Chapter 31 Michael #2
She raised her arm and sniffed, grimacing at the smell. “I brushed my hair this morning.”
My eyes drifted to the ball of messy hair on top of her head.
“Okay, I pulled it out of my face. What’s your point?”
“Nothing at all,” I grinned. How the hell could I be mad with this infuriating woman when she was so damn adorable? Instead, I pulled out a frozen pizza and preheated the oven.
“What is all this shit?” I asked, staring at the mountain of gifts littering every surface of the kitchen, leading into the dining room.
“That would be the first of seven deliveries.”
“Of what?”
“Remember that baby shower the town was planning?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah.”
“Well, since the house burned down and we didn’t have any place to put anything, they decided to wait until we were settled into the new house.”
I started counting the presents, already losing track. “But…this is insane. We have enough for ten kids here, and there are six more deliveries coming?”
“They’re your people,” she grinned.
I ran my hand over my face, determined not to stress about it. We’d find someplace for all of it to go.
“So, how was your day? Make any progress on the case?”
“Not really,” she sighed. “There’s something bothering me…” Her gaze drifted off, but she quickly shook it off, focusing on me.
“What about you? Anything interesting happen in town?”
“Well, I dropped Wes off at the garage and had a little chat with Wyatt.”
She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Isn’t that sort of against the rules of the feud between your families?”
“This was for something specific. A case.”
Her eyes brightened at that. “A case?”
“Can’t tell you,” I grinned. “This isn’t your kind of case.”
“Oh, come on. Every kind of case is my kind!”
“I know, but I was sworn to secrecy.”
“Yes, but there’s a significant other rule that every person knows.”
“What?”
Her jaw dropped open in shock. “You don’t know about the rule?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be asking what it was,” I said, leaning against the counter across from her, crossing my arms over my chest.
“It’s a given rule that if you’re sworn to secrecy, that obviously excludes your significant other.
There can be no secrets in a relationship.
And if you were keeping something from me, it could destroy what’s between us.
Therefore, your choice is to risk everything to keep this secret for something else, or trust me enough not to say anything. ”
I considered that for a moment. She might have a point, but then again, this was not something she needed to know. And I made a promise. I took that seriously.
“Yeah, I’m still not telling you.”
“But…seriously?”
“Seriously. This is not something that you need to know or should know. Therefore, I call bullshit on the rule.”
“I can’t believe you—”
She was about to jump down, so I moved into her space, blocking her exit. “You sure you want to do that?” I murmured, sliding my hand up her thigh, inching toward her center.
“Yes, I’m very much sure I want to leave.”
My knuckle brushed over her clit, eliciting a gasp from her. Fuck, I was already hard, and I didn’t even have her naked yet. Just one little moan, the simplest fucking sound that left her lips, had me ready to spread her out and take her right here and now.
I flicked the button on her jeans, ready to feast on that gorgeous pussy, but I never got the chance. The shrill ringing of my work phone interrupted me. Sighing, I pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and grabbed my phone.
“Yeah?”
“I need you in the office now,” Mav said, his tone brooking no arguments.
I glanced at Blake, a little surprised at the urgency in his voice. “Yeah, I’m coming. What’s going on?”
“Missing girl.”
“Age?”
“Eight. Went missing just after school.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “That was three hours ago.”
“She went missing from the bus stop on the edge of town. The parents thought she was playing with a friend outside.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
“We’re gathering a search party.”
“Alright. I’ll grab Wes and Blake.”
“Meet us at the mountain rescue.”
“Yeah. See you soon.”
Ending the call, I knew immediately where Blake was gonna go with this. Her mind just worked that way.
“A little girl is missing.”
Her eyes rounded as she waited for the details. “We need to get to the mountain rescue. They’re forming a search party.”
I headed for the living room to call up to Wes.
“Where?” she asked, hopping down from the counter. “Did he say where—”
“Blake, I know what you’re thinking, but that was twenty-five years ago.”
“Still, it could be related,” she insisted. “A little girl goes missing from this small town? You don’t find that a little coincidental?”
“Yes, I do, but as of right now, she’s missing. We’re gonna head into town and join the search party. Until there’s evidence that she was kidnapped, we’re treating this as a child who wandered off.”
“But the Callahans—”
I spun on her, my eyes cutting off her line of thinking. “Don’t go around accusing them of anything. You’ll only make things worse between our families, Blake.”
Her jaw hardened as she stared me down. “And you don’t think Austin could have anything to do with this? Or the old man?”
“Austin is a definite possibility—if it were someone in our family. But old man Callahan? No. As mean as he is, no, I don’t think he’s involved.”
“Because you don’t want to think it could be them!” she argued as I turned my back on her.
“Wes! Get down here!”
“Parker, there’s something strange about this case. I’m telling you, somehow, the Callahans are involved. It’s the only thing that makes sense!”
“Maybe in that case, but right now, we’re going into town to look for a little girl.”
“Parker—”
“Blake, don’t make this so fucking difficult,” I argued, getting really pissed off. “Listen, I have a job to do, and this isn’t Reed Security. There are protocols I have to follow. I can’t just throw the book out the window when I’m working for the department.”
Her nostrils flared in indignation, but she didn’t argue further.
Sighing, I pressed my lips to hers. “Let’s just go into town and join the search party. Okay?”
“Yeah.”
But by the look in her eyes, I knew this was far from over.